Home Win Streak Vs. Detroit Has Featured Close Battles

It's one of those statistical anomalies in sports that, when you get right down to it, defies a valid explanation.

The Green Bay Packers have won 18 consecutive games against the Detroit Lions in the state of Wisconsin. That run, which began in 1992, consists of two games in Milwaukee (in 1993 and 1994) and 16 at Lambeau Field, including one playoff contest following the '94 season.

It's the second-longest active home winning streak over one opponent in the league, but the top one - even though it also involves Detroit - actually seems more understandable. The Lions have lost 21 straight games at Washington (including three postseason contests), spanning the entire history of their franchise.

But the Lions and Redskins don't play each other every year, which makes a streak like that all the more random. Sure, it's odd, but there's no regularity to when the teams play one another. That streak started in 1939, and five times there has been a gap of five years..